Australian telecom infrastructure operator Vocus is expanding its Australian Digital Infrastructure Platform (ADIP) with a new 4,000-kilometer ducted fiber route connecting Brisbane, Townsville, and Darwin, according to a report from Telecom Review Asia. It is the second project under ADIP, following Vocus's earlier Sydney-Melbourne route.
The long-haul route will target growing connectivity requirements from hyperscalers, neocloud providers, and enterprise customers. Vocus has begun route planning, technical design, and customer engagement, with the corridor expected to be ready for service in 2030. The Brisbane-Darwin route will accommodate up to 3,456 fiber strands, adding long-haul capacity and route diversity between eastern and northern Australia.
Vocus CEO Andres Irlando said Australia is in a period of "unprecedented investment in AI infrastructure, data centers, and international connectivity, requiring exponential investment in new terrestrial and subsea fiber networks," adding that Queensland and the Northern Territory are emerging as important data center precincts and gateways connecting Australia with Asia and the United States.
Vocus CTO Nikos Katinakis said the Brisbane-Darwin corridor will strengthen the connection to Australia's east coast and give customers additional capacity, diversity, and resilience, noting that Vocus already operates the Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable system and the North-West Cable System in the region.
The new corridor extends the ducted inter-capital network design Vocus introduced on its Sydney-Melbourne ADIP project, which allows additional fiber to be deployed incrementally as capacity needs grow. Vocus-commissioned market research forecasts that Australia's data center capacity will triple by 2030, with AI workloads expected to drive most future demand for long-haul fiber. Vocus, owned by Macquarie Asset Management and Aware Super, operates approximately 50,000 kilometers of fiber across Australia and approximately 15,000 kilometers of subsea cables connecting Australia with Asia and the United States.